The Son of Neptune
by King of Fandom
Summary: My version of the Son of Neptune! The story picks up right where Rick's preview left off. Enjoy!
1. Out of the frying pan

**I am not Rick Riordan! The characters and world of PJO and TLH are his, not mine!**

**Out of the frying pan…**

Percy hurtled down the severe slope on his makeshift sled. There were many thoughts swirling around in Percy's head but the only thing that escaped his mouth was a very unmanly scream. His eyes bulged as he saw the ground rapidly approach him.

Percy landed with an almighty crash; an almost inaudible groan escaped his lips. But that groan, surprisingly, was not induced by pain. His crash landing, contrary to what anyone would expect, had not hurt him. Percy silently resolved to thank whatever God oversaw stupid sledding stunts and decided to take stock of his surroundings.

He was lying by the side of a road with forest on either side of him. As he looked off in the distance, Percy could discern an intertwining system of busy roads. Beyond that, he could see a city, San Francisco, and even farther beyond that, the sea. Percy was suddenly filled with a sense of well-being and contentment. He smiled just the slightest bit; for the first time in what felt like months, he was at peace. But of course, the damned Gods couldn't give him more than about five seconds of happiness before he was thrust back into despondency.

Percy winced as his memories came flooding back to him. To say the least, they weren't pleasant. Images of him fighting and fleeing from the gorgons Stheno and Euryale permeated his mind. The she-wolf Lupa telling him about the Gods and how one of his parents was a millennia-old Roman God. And after that… nothing. Percy tried to focus, he screwed up his eyes in concentration but he still drew a blank. He simply didn't have any other memories. Well that wasn't entirely true; the only thing Percy could recall from his time before he woke up at the Wolf-House was a girl, Annabeth. She had curly blond hair and stormy gray eyes. Percy's memories of her were infuriatingly vague, but he could still remember those eyes. Her stare was extremely piercing. It seemed to Percy that she was looking into the deepest recesses of his soul with her glare…

Percy jumped as the bush directly next to him rustled slightly. Within moments Percy had Riptide uncapped and was in a fighting position, but when he edged over to the bush Percy discovered that the culprit that created the slight disturbance was merely a squirrel. Percy silently cursed his growing paranoia and erased his mental images of his least favorite gorgons.

When Percy turned around he was startled to find that he was looking at a tunnel that when straight through the hill that he had slide down. Suddenly, Percy recalled the reason he had so rashly sled down this particular hill. He smacked himself open-palmed on his forehead for his forgetfulness. Percy picked up the backpack that contained all his demi-god essentials and started to walk briskly towards the tunnel.

Percy's excitement grew as his internal radar went crazy. He started to run; he was so close. Then his internal radar started to calm down. Percy stopped; he must have passed whatever he was looking for. He turned back around and walked, slowly, back the way he had come. He stopped when he felt that his internal radar was strongest. But as Percy looked around the bleak tunnel, all he saw were smooth walls, with one exception. Directly to his right, there was a solitary door. It was by no means exceptional in any way, but it seemed to glow with a strange aura of power. No, glow wasn't the correct word, but Percy could _sense_ it. He shuffled suspiciously over to the door and feeling infinitely foolish, opened the door.

What Percy saw was the very last thing that he expected. When he had gripped the doorknob he was certain that either the door would be locked, or he would find a thoroughly uninteresting, dark, damp closet. Instead, what Percy saw was shocking and suspiciously familiar.

What lay before Percy was a beautiful, lush valley. To Percy's right, trees stretched as far as the eye could see. To his left, after about a half-mile or so the forest yielded to a large lake. Trees populated almost the entire valley; essentially, it was a vast forest. The only exception was a massive clearing at the heart of the valley. The clearing was about a mile long by a mile wide. One side of the clearing connected with the lake, massive walls protected the other three sides. In front of each wall the residents of this ridiculous encampment had dug a trench, and each trench was filled with what seemed to be… lava. Within the clearing there were 20 to 30 buildings arranged in a painfully organized manner. From where he was, Percy could only discern the function of a few of them. One of them was clearly a dining pavilion, Percy's stomach growled, as he hadn't eaten any real food since he woke up at the Wolf-House. There was a cluster of what looked like barracks; these dull and similar buildings were arranged in a U, with all of them facing an inner courtyard. Off to one side of the U, a few more barracks were arranged in a grid, with a few more still being built. But the building that Percy could see most easily was the one smack dab in the middle of the odd encampment. It was clearly the largest building of all. It was several stories high and circular. Extravagant artwork adorned the entire perimeter. It was a coliseum.

Once Percy got over the shock of finding an entire ecosystem inside a grungy tunnel-side door, he got a suspicious feeling of familiarity. Although he was certain that he had never been to this place before, Percy got the sense that he had known a place similar to this one. In a flash, images of a hill, a tall pine tree and a shimmering lake flooded into Percy's brain. But as soon as these images came, they started to fade. Percy tried desperately to keep the flow of images and emotions going, but they left as quickly as they came. All that he had managed to hold on to was a mental picture of a valley very similar to this one and a warm feeling in his gut, a feeling of homeliness.

Percy sighed in frustration, something he seemed to be doing a lot lately and started his half-mile or so trek down the hillside. Percy had a feeling that this was the place he had to go to regain his memories. He hoped Lupa would be here, so she could explain a few things to him. For one, why the gorgons hadn't dissipated and gone back to Tartarus the _first _time he had killed them. Also how there could be a _freaking_ entire valley inside a _freaking_ tunnel-side door!

Percy marched solemnly towards the foreboding encampment. Even though he knew that this was the place he had to go, Percy didn't like the feel of the place. It was too austere and hostile. When he was one hundred yards or so from the entrance gate, a harsh voice called out.

"Stop!" It commanded.

Percy obeyed. He searched the battlements for the speaker. There were approximately 10 archers with their bows trained on him. The speaker stepped to the forefront of the ramparts.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" He snarled.

Percy already knew that he definitely didn't like this guy, but he responded civilly enough. "My name is Perseus Jackson. I am a demigod. I was sent here by Lupa the wolf."

The scowl on Percy's confronter's face did not leave. He continued to glare at Percy for a few more seconds before turning to one of the archers and whispering in her ear. The archers lowered their bows and disappeared. Moments later, the gate started to open. Percy let out an audible sigh of relief and strode towards the now open gate.


	2. Into the fire

…**Into the fire**

The moment Percy stepped across the gate's boundary he knew he was in deep trouble. The archers had moved down from the wall and were now standing 20 yards in front of him, with their arrows pointed at his heart. Percy gulped.

The boy that had confronted Percy the previous minute pushed through the archers' ranks. Percy couldn't fool himself; the guy cut a pretty impressive figure in full armor. He was about 15 or 16 years old, around Percy's age, maybe a year or so younger. But this guy stood a solid six inches over Percy's head and had at least eighty pounds on him. Percy felt rather wary about fighting this guy, but something told him he had fought bigger, meaner guys in the past. Percy thought that it was essential to make a good first impression on this guy, so he decided to say something intelligent and not incriminating.

"Um… I didn't do it!" Nice, really nice, now he was doomed.

The guy's eyes narrowed, "You didn't do what?"

"Ah… that's not what I meant to say."

"Well, then what did you _mean_ to say"

Percy was starting to like this guy less and less. He managed to say that sentence with so much derision that it made Percy want to punch his lights out. But he just ground his teeth and replied.

"What I _meant_ to do was ask you what it was I did to make you treat me as an enemy."

"It was nothing that you _did_, just who you are."

Ok, this guy was seriously asking for it. Percy just itched to take out Riptide and teach this pretentious prick a lesson. But he settled for replying with as much venom as he could muster.

"And _who_ exactly do you _think_ I am?"

"You have at least some godly lineage, otherwise you would not have been able to open the tunnel door. But that is not why I _know_ you are an enemy. You are an enemy because you are at least my age, possibly older, and an untrained demigod could not possibly survive for that long on his own. I _know _you are untrained because I have never seen you before and this is the only place a demigod can be properly trained to fight. Therefore, you are either a disguised monster, or a divine being." The prick paused for a second to look Percy up and down. "And since we can _definitely_ rule out the latter, you must be a monster."

Percy absolutely loathed the triumphant look on the prick's face (prick was starting to become this guy's name in Percy's mind), but Percy couldn't find any holes in his logic. Besides, Percy doubted this buffoon would have reconsidered his theory even if there were gaping holes in it. Percy decided that a witty retort was just what he needed to restore the situation.

"Reasonably well thought out for an primitive ape such as yourself."

Percy congratulated himself, the prick's insufferable sneer had been wiped right off his face.

The prick roared with anger and started to charge Percy, but before the prick could take two steps a giant wolf bounded between Percy and his new friend. It was Lupa. The archers immediately lowered their bows, but the prick still had his sword out and was giving Percy a death glare that would rival Hades'.

"_Stop this nonsense; Robert, Percy is who he says he is. Even though I don't like him being here, Percy must be welcome at our camp, it is the will of the Gods."_

Percy didn't exactly feel assured by Lupa's words. What did she mean she didn't like him being here? She was the one who had started him on the journey that had led him to this gods-forsaken 'camp.' Percy's scowl deepened when he saw that the prick (or as Lupa had called him, Robert) had decided to open his fat mouth again.

"But Lupa, didn't you hear what I just said? Percy couldn't be a demigod; he would never survive until his age without being trained here."

Lupa turned slowly to face the prick, "_Percy's situation is undoubtedly odd, but that is no reason to treat him with so much hostility. And Robert, you would be wise to speak to me with more respect."_

Percy was surprised that he could still hear Lupa now that she had her back to him. With a poorly concealed gasp, Percy realized that Lupa wasn't actually speaking; rather, she was talking directly into his mind. "Okay," Percy thought, "Ancient Roman gods, heavily armed half-human half-god teenagers, was a wolf with telepathy really that much of a stretch?"

"Yes Lupa." The prick mumbled.

"_Robert," _Lupa said with mock patience, "_aren't you supposed to be on guard duty?"_

"Yes Lupa." The prick mumbled again. He turned and stormed back up the battlement stairs, after a view seconds of unnecessarily loud climbing Robert disappeared from view. Lupa turned back to face Percy. She looked him up and down like she was reassessing her view of him. After she was done with her inspection, she addressed Percy.

"_I have misjudged you hero. I did not expect you to make it to our camp alive."_

"Well thanks for believing in me." Percy replied sarcastically.

"_You're welcome." _Lupa said in all seriousness. "_I suppose you have a lot of questions to ask me"_

"Yeah, you're right, I do. To start, who the heck am I? Where was I before I appeared at the Wolf-House? Who is Annabeth, and why do I remember her and nothing else from my past?"

"_All those answers will become apparent to you once you have completed your journey."_ Lupa stated matter -of-factly.

"But I have completed my journey, I made it here didn't I?" Wow, Percy's voice sounded whiney, even to him.

Lupa's lips curled into her wolfish grin, "_Ah but Percy, your journey has only just begun."_

On that heartening note, Lupa promptly turned and started to trot away. "Wait!" Percy shouted.

Without looking back, Lupa projected, "_Don't worry Perseus, I have instructed someone to come and give you a tour of our camp. I think you will like her, she is also… special."_


	3. Percy gets the grand tour

**Hey people, I just want to give a quick shout out to Buddysbud for my first (and only) review! Thanks a lot! Hope you are enjoying the story!**

**Percy gets the grand tour**

After 10 minutes of waiting Percy decided he needed to sit down, it had been a long time since he had, had time during which to relax. Actually, Percy couldn't remember ever being able to relax at all. He wandered over to the closet rock he could see and sat down.

Percy wasn't really miffed that his tour guide was taking her time; he wasn't exactly thrilled to meet another person from this place. Also, his tour guide's tardiness gave Percy much needed time to think. I lot had happened to him a short time. When he woke up at the Wolf-House, Percy was immediately thrust into a world of gods, monsters and talking wolves. He hadn't had time to consider it before, but now Percy realized just how odd it was that he had accepted all these brain-numbing realizations with such ease. He decided that he must have known about all this stuff before he had lost his memories.

Percy started to wonder who he had left behind in his former life. His friends and family must be worried sick about him, that is if he had any, Percy certainly hoped so. His mind turned to the only thing that he could recall from his past, Annabeth. Percy hated how obscure his memory of her was. The only things about her that he could recall were her name, and a mental picture of her. In Percy's mental depiction, Annabeth's curly blond hair was blowing slow motion in the wind, shampoo-commercial style. Her intense gray eyes were blazing with liveliness. Her slight but athletic figure was framed against an image of the calm sea. She was beautiful. Percy wasn't exactly sure what Annabeth meant to him, but he certainly hoped she wasn't his sister.

Percy was jolted out of his reverie when an unfamiliar person strode into his view. She was tall, not quite Percy's height but still tall. She had midnight black hair, like Percy's, but instead of shaggy, hers was sleek and perfectly straight. Like everyone he had seen so far at the camp, she was fit and healthy. Percy stood up to greet the girl.

"Hello, you must be here to show me around, I'm Percy." He held out his hand.

The girl looked at his hand warily but shook it nonetheless. "I'm Hazel."

Percy decided to try and ease some of the awkwardness with a little small talk. "So, Hazel, how long have you been at this camp for?"

"Since I was born."

"And how old are you?"

"15."

Wow, Percy was by no stretch of the imagination a killer conversationalist, but compared to Hazel, he was quite the chatterbox.

"That's a long time." Percy replied stupidly. Hazel merely nodded and stood there. After several very long seconds she finally spoke.

"So now that twenty questions is over I'll show you the camp." Hazel turned on her heel and started walking briskly toward the center of the encampment.

Percy hardly thought that Hazel's comment was fair, seeing as he had only asked her two questions and he was merely trying to make conversation. Damn! Were all these Romans alike? Were they all so brusque and ill tempered? Percy hoped not.

As much resentment as Percy felt toward these peoples' dispositions, he could not deny that they had a pretty awesome set up. The coliseum was as awe-inspiring as it had looked from the hill side, there was a field were campers sparred, an archery range (although Percy got the feeling that archery definitely was not his thing), a modern track, rubberized and all, and the dinning pavilion was all-you-can eat. It was truly awesome. Percy and Hazel were now approaching their final stop on their grand tour, the cabins. Percy wasn't exactly sure why, but he felt disappointed with the cabins' appearance. They were all exactly the same accept that each one had a different symbol. Hazel explained that each cabin was dedicated to a specific Olympian and that the symbols on the door were each God's symbol. She pointed to the two cabins that made up the head of the cabins' formation.

"See those two?" She asked. Hazel didn't wait for Percy's response. "Those two cabins are for Jupiter and Juno, the King and Queen of the Olympians. Jupiter's symbol is the eagle, so that is the symbol on the door of his cabin. We live in the cabin that is dedicated to our godly parent."

Percy had a confused look on his face, "Don't you mean Zeus and Hera? Aren't they King and Queen of the Gods?"

"Yes Percy," Hazel said carefully, "Zeus and Hera are King and Queen of the Gods in _Greek _mythology, but the Gods exist in their Roman forms. The Gods' Greek forms faded after Rome conquered Greece in the first century B.C."

Percy wasn't quite sure why, but he felt like Hazel wasn't entirely correct. "Who is your godly parent?" Percy asked. He immediately regretted asking the question, Hazel's face darkened and she wore a scowl that definitely did not suit her. But she responded to Percy's rash question nonetheless.

"My godly parent has yet to claim me, so I stay in the Mercury cabin, where you will be staying until we know you your parent is."

It took Percy a minute to place the name but he eventually got it, Hermes, god of messengers, travelers, thieves and general troublemaking. "But I already know who my godly parent is." Percy stated.

Hazel looked surprised, but she merely raised her eyebrows and responded, "How do you know?"

"Well on my way to camp," Percy explained, "I was being chased by two of the gorgons, Stheno and Euryale, and they kept calling me son of the sea god. So I guess that means I am Poseidon's son."

"Neptune, not Poseidon." Hazel corrected automatically. "Really," Hazel started, speaking more to herself than to Percy, "We haven't seen a child of Neptune in a long time, and Jason was the first child of the Big Three in fifty years…"

"Excuse me," Percy interrupted, "who is Jason and who are the Big Three?"

Hazel scowled again, "Jason was a son of Jupiter. He disappeared a couple of months ago and hasn't been heard from since. The Big Three are the three eldest Olympians, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto."

The way Hazel said Jason's name in the past tense made Percy think that Hazel considered this guy to be history. Percy decided to get the conversation back on track, "So does this mean I get to stay in the Pos- Neptune cabin?"

"No." Hazel said "You must stay at the Mercury cabin until you are claimed, it is customary."

Right then a bugle horn blasted through the camp. "Come on, it's time for dinner." Hazel said. Before Percy could even register what she had said, Hazel was already headed in the direction of the dining pavilion. Grumbling to himself, Percy turned and ran to catch up with her.


	4. Welcome to the Legion

**Welcome to the Legion**

Percy's dinner was awesome. It consisted of several breasts of barbeque chicken and a liter or so of coke. Unfortunately, as soon as Hazel had shown him where to sit she turned and moved to the opposite side of the rowdy table. Percy guessed it wasn't cool to sit next to the new guy. This irritated him a bit, he had been on the run, by himself, for almost two months, Percy was sick of his solitude. But he didn't blame Hazel for her actions, this seemed like a bad place to be at the bottom of the food chain, and Percy was definitely at the bottom. He wasn't too concerned though, Percy got the feeling that he had been the new guy plenty of times; he knew how to play the game.

Percy pondered his eventful afternoon whilst absentmindedly gnawing on his chicken. While he was taking the tour, Percy had felt that he wasn't learning things for the first time. Instead, Percy had felt as if he was re-learning things that he had forgotten, which, of course, he had. But his tour had not only informed Percy about the camp, it had also told him a lot about Hazel. At first, Percy had just thought that Hazel was a cold-hearted bitch, plain and simple. But when she had admitted to Percy that she was not yet claimed, her cold and indifferent manner started to make sense in Percy's mind. Hazel was not a cold-hearted bitch, she was just bitter. Percy didn't remember much, but even he knew that being fifteen and unclaimed was unprecedented. Lupa's comment finally made sense to him, Hazel was special, only not in a pleasant way, just like himself.

Percy was startled to find that the dining pavilion was almost empty, most of the campers where heading in the direction of the northern forest. Hazel got up and walked over to where Percy sat.

"Where is everyone going?" He inquired.

"It's time for our weekly game of capture the flag." Hazel explained.

Percy's eyes lit up, he loved capture the flag! "Cool!" Percy exclaimed. "Whose team are we on?"

"We will be with the rest of the Mercury cabin. For now, we are allied with the Minerva, Bacchus, Ceres and Apollo cabins."

"Alright and who is on the other team?"

"Mars, Vulcan and Venus."

Percy didn't know why, but he had an apprehensive feeling about the Mars cabin being his adversaries. He followed Hazel in silence to the campers, who were organized into two groups at the edge of the forest. Hazel joined the closer group, Percy dutifully followed. He found Hazel putting on her armor.

"Nice armor, where's mine?" Percy asked.

Hazel frowned, "You mean you haven't been fitted yet?"

"Definitely not." Percy stated.

Hazel walked over to a large pile of battle armor. She rifled through the pile for a few seconds and came up with a breastplate and a helmet with a blue plume on it.

"These should fit well enough."

Percy took the armor with and gave Hazel a look of skepticism on his face. "And how to you propose I get these on?"

"Oh for the Gods' sake!" Hazel exclaimed. "Don't you know anything?"

"No." Percy replied truthfully.

Hazel grumbled to herself but helped Percy get his armor on nonetheless. When they finished, Percy looked at himself in a mirror he had found. He couldn't deny it, he looked absolutely ridiculous. The breastplate was way too heavy and the helmet kept sliding down, covering his eyes. He started to take the ludicrous armor off, but Hazel stopped him.

"You'll be happy you have that armor when the fighting starts."

"I seriously doubt that." Percy grumbled. He really couldn't see how a helmet that mostly blocked his vision could be beneficial.

"Trust me." Hazel said.

Percy looked at her; for once she actually looked like she was concerned for his well-being. "I knew it," Percy thought, "she's not a cold-hearted bitch."

"Okay."

Hazel nodded, satisfied with his answer. For the first time in a while Percy smiled, he had made a friend. But of course, Percy's contentment was cut short as he heard a familiar voice.

"Ah, isn't that sweet." The prick mocked.

"Hello Bobby." Hazel said stiffly.

"It's nice to see you keep such _lovely_ company Percy, that one's almost as hopeless as you are, fifteen years old and unclaimed, what a pity. The Gods don't even have the time to put a sign over her head."

Percy longed to smack the prick's trademark smirk right off his face. "She has a name _Robert_."

The prick frowned. "My name is Bobby."

"Whatever you say _Robert_."

The prick's eyes gleamed dangerously. "Fine, be that way Jackson, I just came over here to tell you that you better watch your back out on the battlefield. Sometimes people get a little over zealous and _accidentally_ hurt someone. I would _hate_ to see that happen to you."

Percy didn't respond; he was standing protectively in between Hazel and Bobby. He was seething with anger, for a split second it seemed like the ground was rumbling under his feet. For a brief moment, Bobby's confident smile seemed to slip, but he quickly rearranged his face.

"Just remember what I said Jackson." With that, the prick turned and walked quickly to the group of red-plumed warriors marching into the woods.

"Don't worry about him Percy," Hazel began, "he's probably…"

She never got a chance to finish her attempt at a reassuring sentence because right a booming voice spoke out. "Let's move out!" It called. The entire mass of blue-plumed fighters started out toward the woods. While they were walking, the guy who had spoken before gave everyone instructions.

"Reyna, you take your cohort up the northern border. I'll take our main force and go straight up the middle. Since Bobby lacks any intelligence whatsoever he will throw everyone he's got at me and won't leave many guards by the flag. Try to get in and out quickly and silently."

"Understood." A female voice confirmed.

"James, you take your cohort and set up a defensive perimeter around the flag. Use your powers to make it difficult for the enemy to get to you."

"Understood."

"Wow," Percy thought, "these Romans really like to vary their responses."

Hazel turned to look at Percy, "Come on, we need to ask Dakota what he wants you to do."

Percy guessed that Dakota was the guy giving everyone directions. Hazel suddenly picked up her pace and started to jog to the front of the group. Percy hastily followed. When Percy final caught up to Hazel she was talking to the leader, Dakota.

When Percy came into Dakota's view Dakota turned to look at him. While he was scrutinizing Percy's appearance, Percy took the time to size up their leader. Dakota seemed to be about the same age as Percy, he had short blond hair and hard gray eyes. He was a little shorter than average but Percy got the feeling that this guy didn't take shit from anybody. Once they were done sizing each other up (Percy noted that he probably didn't look too impressive in his heavy armor and oversized helmet) Dakota spoke.

"You can go with James and help stand guard."

Percy frowned; he hadn't done anything fun for nearly two months and now he was stuck on guard duty? But before Percy could protest, Dakota addressed the entire group.

"Alright people, you know what to do, good luck. For Rome!" Dakota yelled.

Most of the group followed Dakota who was sprinting at the mass of red-plumed soldiers who had just emerged from the dense forest. A small group of 8 or so combatants ran to the north and another group turned and ran in the opposite direction of the Dakota's forces. Hazel was nowhere in sight, she must be with the main force, Percy reasoned. He sighed and ran after what he thought must be James' group.

They ran until they reached a clearing. In the middle of the clearing there was a blue flag blowing merrily in the slight breeze.

One of the group spoke. "Alright, everyone hide out of sight, if you see anyone just wait until they've grabbed the flag and then attack." The guy looked into each of his fighters' eyes. When he looked at Percy he frowned. "Who are you?" He asked.

"My name is Percy Jackson; I'm new here. Dakota told me to come with you." Percy said.

James nodded. "Keep walking to the south until you see a creek, stay there. You'll be a decoy."

James' tone was nice enough but Percy knew that he was being told to do a useless job. James probably just didn't want to deal with Percy's incompetence but it still made Percy mad. He turned and trudged to the south until he found the creek James had described. "Screw this." Percy mumbled and sat down on the bank. He took off his cumbersome armor and his ridiculous helmet and threw them to the ground. "Lousy Romans," He thought, "just a bunch a no good…" But before Percy could finish his thought, a group of five warriors stumbled out of the undergrowth and onto the bank of opposite side of the stream.

They were clearly lost. When they spotted Percy, their frowns turned into malicious smiles. One of the group stepped forward. With an inward groan, Percy realized that it was Bobby. Was his luck really that bad? Something told Percy that it was.

"What a pleasant surprise." Bobby said; his face set in a fierce snarl. "Now me and my siblings will teach you a little lesson."

They all drew their swords. Percy uncapped his pen and Riptide grew to its full length. Percy did not like his odds, there was five of them and they all had shields. Unfortunately for him, Percy didn't have any comrades or a shield. Percy decided that he would have to play this smart, seeing as he was at a sever tactical disadvantage and had never had one day of sword training, at least that he could remember. So, being the infinitely intelligent person that he was, Percy leaped over the stream and attacked the five startled children of the war god.

They were so startled in fact, that they didn't react until Percy had successfully incapacitated one of them. As soon as the girl's body crumpled to the ground, the other four leaped into action. Despite his numerous disadvantages, Percy managed to hold his attackers back. "Damn," Percy thought, "since when was I a master swords man?"

But after a minute or so of relentless parrying and blocking, Percy started to tire. He was pushed farther and farther backwards until he tripped on the bank and fell into the creek. Bobby and his half-siblings burst out in sardonic laughter.

"Now Jackson, you will be sorry you were born."

But what Bobby didn't know was that as soon as Percy's body had hit the water, he was instantly revitalized. Percy stood up in the creek; he could feel the power of the current flowing past him. Bobby was slowly walking up to the creek, savoring every second of his victory, his intolerable smirk plastered on his face. Percy felt the water pressure start to rise. Not yet he told himself, not yet. Bobby got closer and closer to the creek's edge. The water pressure under Percy's feet reached a critical point.

The water erupted and Percy was flung into the air, on his way up, he lashed out with his foot, hitting Bobby square in the face. Percy felt Bobby's nose crunch under his foot. He continued to fly through the air, heading straight for his three remaining adversaries. With a resounding crash, Percy slammed into the group of stunned demigods, sending them flying backwards. Percy was no exception; he continued his uncontrolled flight until he landed, face first in the underbrush.

Percy waited for the pain to arrive. It never did. Startled, Percy rose to his feet and surveyed the carnage he had single-handedly managed to incite. Bobby was on the ground clutching his nose and writhing in pain. His four siblings were all unconscious. In short, none of them were getting up soon. With a start, Percy realized that the creek was ringed with spectators. The game, apparently, had ended some time ago, as Dakota had a red flag clutched firmly in his hand. The entire camp was staring, stunned at something just over Percy's head. Percy looked up to find a symbol of a trident floating above his head.

Lupa broke the reverent silence, "Welcome, Perseus, son of Neptune, to the Legion."


	5. No pressure

**No Pressure**

The last week had gone by in a blur for Percy. Life as a Roman Legionnaire was hard. It seemed like all they did was train. That was fine with Percy, but they never seemed to do anything for enjoyment. What was the problem with having a campfire and roasting s'mores? When he had proposed the idea to Dakota, he had looked at Percy sternly and said that they were soldiers, not children.

Percy was currently lying on his bunk in the Neptune cabin. Lupa instructed him to move into his father's cabin the night he was claimed. Percy had thought about that night a lot in the past few days. After Lupa had announced that Percy was a son of Neptune he had gotten the oddest feeling of déjà vu, as if he had been claimed like that before. Percy sighed; he hated not knowing anything. He had tried and tried to remember anything from his past but he simply couldn't. When he tried to think back to before he woke up at the Wolf-House he found a deep abyss in his mind. It was a gaping blackness that Percy knew should not be there. Instead of the infinite emptiness there should have been memories of his life, who he had been, what he had done. Percy's mind turned to the only thing that could comfort him these days, Annabeth. Just looking at his mental picture of her slowed his breathing down to its normal rate. Percy had decided days ago that he would find this girl, no matter what. The longer he thought about her, the more his desire to find her increased. It rose and rose until suddenly, Percy remembered.

Images and scenes from his past life flooded Percy's brain: Annabeth laughing after Grover ate the apple they were playing hacky sack with, Annabeth struggling under the weight of the sky, Annabeth's grief when she was burning Percy's burial shroud, Annabeth kissing Percy at Camp Half-Blood after they had defeat Kronos and his army. Percy almost couldn't breath he was so overcome by his well of emotions. He jumped out of bed grabbed his backpack and started to hastily pack it. He was going to see Annabeth right now; he was going home right now. There was nothing to keep him here. Well that wasn't entirely true; Percy would miss Hazel a bit. They had become rather good friends over the past week. Since Hazel was unclaimed, she technically wasn't part of the Legion so she couldn't train with the rest of the camp. So Percy had used his free time to spar with her. Percy would miss Hazel for sure but there was no way it would compare to how he was feeling now. It was like someone had stolen a part of him. Percy was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he hadn't seen the woman materialize behind him.

When Percy turned around, he jumped about a foot. The Queen of the Gods was standing in front of him, a deep frown etched on her face.

"Hera," Percy stammered, "What are you doing here?"

Hera ignored Percy's question. "You must not leave Percy, at least not yet."

Percy narrowed his eyes; that was definitely not what he wanted to hear. "I'm leaving this place, I don't belong here. You must know this."

"Regardless Percy, you have to stay here until you truly become part of the Legion."

Something about Hera's comment made Percy stop and think for a second. His brow furrowed in concentration. "What exactly is the Legion? Obviously it's a camp for half-bloods, but why does everyone use your Roman names and how have I never heard of this place?"

Hera sighed. "This place is Camp Half-Blood's Roman equivalent."

"I don't understand." Percy said.

Hera sighed again. "As you know, from time to time a God will fall in love with a mortal and they will have a demigod child. What you don't know is that sometimes a God's Roman aspect will fall in love with a mortal and they will have a Roman demigod child. These Roman demigods are sent here, to the Legion."

Percy's brain hurt. "Okay, but that does not explain why I've never heard of this place or why I have to stay here."

"During the American Civil War, not only did the North and South fight, but the Greek and Roman Demigods also fought. Both sides had horrible casualties. We, the Gods, decided that it would be in everyone's best interest to separate the two camps. We weaved the Mist so thick that the Greeks and Romans would not remember each other. The camps have been separate ever since… until now. For us to have the strength to defeat the Giants, the camps must unite once more."

"Um, who are the Giants?" Percy asked innocently.

Hera scoffed in indignation. "Even with your memories restored you really do know nothing Perseus Jackson."

Before Percy could make a defensive retort Hera plowed on with her explanations. "The Giants are the children of Gaea and Tartarus and were created for the purpose of destroying us Gods after we defeated Gaea's preferred children, the Titans. As it happened the last time, the Giants are once again rising."

"Ah, so the Giants are bad news then?" Percy inquired

Hera looked exasperated but she still answered his question. "Yes Perseus, the Giants are _bad news_."

"So, why do I have to stay here?"

Hera looked really ticked off now, Percy knew he was really good at annoying people, but he was really doing a number on Hera. She responded through gritted teeth. "Like I said, we will only have the power to defeat the Giants if the Roman and Greek camps unite."

"And what does that have to do with me?"

Hera gave Percy her best death glare. "To successfully unite the two camps it was necessary to first organize an exchange of leaders."

Percy thought for a moment, "So if I was brought here, who was brought to Camp Half-Blood?"

"Jason Grace." Hera said simply.

Percy looked surprised. "Grace, as in Thalia Grace?"

"Yes," Hera said with a distasteful look, "Jason is Thalia's full blood brother."

Percy was genuinely astonished; he had no idea that Thalia had a brother. But something still didn't sit right with Percy. "Why didn't I remember anything when I arrived at the Wolf-House?"

"It was necessary to temporarily erase your memories so you didn't try to return to Camp Half-Blood, also it would not be safe for you here if your Roman compatriots knew that you were Greek. You were not supposed to remember anything until you became a true member of the Legion. It's entirely that blasted girl's fault. Oh Aphrodite will never let me hear the end of it."

"How is it Annabeth's fault?" Percy snapped. "I'm not sorry I got my memories back."

"Well of course your happy you have your memories back." Hera said. "That's not the point, the point is that you must stay here until you are a true Legionnaire."

Percy started to argue but Hera cut him off. "There will be no discussion about this. This is a sacrifice that you must make to give us a chance against the Giants."

Percy glared at her in silent rage, but Hera did not back down. She started to fade, but before Hera disappeared completely she spoke to Percy one last time. "Remember Perseus, you must not fail. If you do, we will all be doomed."

"Thanks," Percy muttered to himself, "no pressure."


	6. Just a little bit longer

**Hi people! I just want to thank the people you have reviewed and favorited my story, it means a lot to me!**

**saveme57 - thanks for the review! The reason Hazel is unclaimed will become apparent later in the story, so stay tuned ;)**

**Just a little bit longer**

Percy was sitting on his bunk thinking. He hadn't even tried to go back to sleep, there was no way he could have managed it. There were just too many thoughts and emotions swirling in his head.

On the one hand, Percy was thrilled to have gotten his memory back. On the other hand, it probably would have been easier to be blissfully ignorant of his past. He missed everyone so much that it hurt.

As much as Percy ached to be back with his friends and family, he was apprehensive about seeing them again. What if they had moved on with their lives, like the Romans had with Jason? During his time at the Roman camp Percy had only heard Jason's name a few times, and it was always said with so much disdain that it led him to believe that Jason wasn't missed at all. "No." Percy told himself, his friends would never give up on him like that. They were probably looking for him right now. Percy felt conflicted by this; he was happy that he had friends that would miss him so much, but Percy hated making them worry. If only there was a way he could let his friends know that he was safe…

Suddenly, something clicked in Percy's brain; he leapt out off his bunk and ran out of the Neptune cabin just as the bugle called the campers to breakfast. Percy ran straight to the Mercury cabin and waited anxiously. Finally, the person he was waiting for emerged from the cabin. Percy ran up to Hazel, startling her.

"Percy," she stammered, "what are…"

"I need a drachma." Percy said, cutting her off.

"A…a drachma? What's a drachma?" Hazel asked.

"You know, like godly money."

"Oh, you mean an _aureus_." Hazel replied, handing over a coin. It was very similar to a drachma. It was about the same dimension and weight; even the inscription on the coin was similar.

Without saying a word, Percy sprinted in the direction of the lake. Confused, Hazel stayed rooted to the ground for a few seconds before deciding to follow her newest friend.

When Hazel had finally caught up to Percy, he was standing knee-deep in the lake. He reached down and scooped up some water carefully. Percy tossed the water into the air, willing it to turn into a fine mist. The water obeyed; the sun hit the mist, creating a rainbow. Percy tossed the aureus through the rainbow. "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering."

Nothing happened. The coin did not disappear; it simply flew through the delicate mist and landed with a muted thud in the water.

Percy looked confused. He picked up the aureus and repeated the same process. When it did not work the second time, he scooped up the coin and turned to look at Hazel who was standing by the bank with a concerned look on her face.

"Why didn't it work?" His question was simple enough, but Hazel could sense the intensity in his voice. She silently wondered why Percy was acting so odd.

"Ever since the Titan War last summer the Gods have been incommunicado. Kids still get claimed, but other than that there has been no interaction between the Gods and us."

"But why don't Iris-messages work?"

"Jupiter ordered Iris to stop running her messaging service."

Percy started to panic. "If I can't send an Iris message how am I supposed to contact Camp Half-Blood?" Percy thought to himself. He sighed, climbed out of the lake and plopped down in the grass. He needed to think, there had to be some way to contact camp…

But before Percy could sort out his competing thoughts, Hazel spoke.

"Percy, if you can't remember anything from your past, then why do you need to IM someone? And how do you even know about Iris messaging?"

Percy didn't answer for a long time; he didn't know whether he trusted Hazel enough to tell her his secret, especially after what Hera had said about him not being safe here if the Romans knew he was Greek. But in the end, Percy decided that if he couldn't trust Hazel, he couldn't trust anyone here, and he definitely needed someone to confide in.

Percy told Hazel the abbreviated version. Afterward, Hazel sat with her mouth hanging open, at a loss for words. Percy's mouth twitched into a slight smile, he couldn't help but be amused by Hazel's stunned silence. After several minutes, she managed to speak.

"So, let me get this straight. There are _Greek _demigods; they go to a camp similar to ours. You are one of these Greek demigods and were the leader of your camp. Hera decided that the two camps should unite so she kidnapped you and Jason, wiped your memories and delivered both of you to opposite camps?"

"Pretty much." Percy replied dejectedly.

"Sounds like the Gods." Hazel muttered.

Silence once again settled between Hazel and Percy. Percy didn't mind; he turned his thoughts back to his immediate problem, getting word to camp. Suddenly, Percy was struck by inspiration. He jumped to his feet and turned to Hazel, who was looking at him like he was crazy. Percy didn't really care at the moment, he knew how to contact camp, to talk to Annabeth…

"Is there a phone anywhere in camp?" Percy inquired.

"No." Hazel replied simply.

Percy wasn't all that surprised or peeved by her answer, it was expected. "Who here has a cell phone?" He asked next.

"No one does Percy." Hazel said sympathetically. "Lupa has expressly banned them from camp."

Percy was dumbfounded. "So what if they were banned? They were banned from Camp Half-Blood, but it didn't stop half the kids from having them." Percy was so upset that he was practically shouting at Hazel.

Hazel managed to keep calm (a specialty of hers). Taking a steadying breath, Hazel responded. "The consequences of directly disobeying Lupa are… severe. No one wants to risk being eaten for a cell phone."

Hazel was frightened, for a moment, Percy looked like he was going to do something extremely rash, like go tell off Lupa or something. But the moment passed and Percy's anger dissipated, but it was replaced by something that alarmed Hazel even more. On Percy's face was a look of complete and utter defeat. Hazel was stunned; she had never seen him like this. Before, he had always been so confident and purposeful. But in the last 30 minutes, Hazel had seen Percy go from eager, to confused, to eager again, to angry and then finally to depressed. She was disconcerted to say the least. She had never known anyone could be so tumultuous.

"It's because he's Greek." Hazel guessed. "Romans are stoic and orderly, while Greeks… aren't."

Percy and Hazel sat in silence for a third time, each of them absorbed in their own thoughts. After some time, Hazel looked down at her watch and realized just how much time had passed. She silently cursed herself for being so scatterbrained.

"Percy, he have to go back now, our morning training will start soon. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not wash dishes every day for the next week."

This stirred Percy out of his dark musings. As much as things sucked at the moment, they could get a whole lot worse if he was late for training. These Romans were obsessed with punctuality.

Percy sighed and pushed himself to his feet. Hazel and him then took off toward the training fields. As much as Percy hated it, he had to stay here and become a Legionnaire, or else, according to Hera, they were all doomed.

His friends and family would just have to wait a little bit longer.

**Hi again people! I'm not really sure how I feel about this latest chapter, so I want to know what you folks thought about it, and what you think about the story so far. See you next chapter :)**


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